Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Munich with my favorite aunt

The last couple of days I spent in the Bavarian capital, München: my sister lives here with her family. After a whirlwind get-together with her family, they've flown the coop, and now it's just my "Tante" and I. As is so often the case with my extended German family, it's been well over a decade since I've seen her, as she lives way up North in Hamburg. It was great to spend quality time with her -- the kind you get only during long walks or car rides, or in the evening after everybody else has gone to bed!

My Tante and I are having a wonderful time. She's my mother's youngest sister: energetic, eccentric, funny but also very insightful. She and I drove to the Altmühltal where one of my many cousins lives on a farm. I promise I'll post pictures and write about that visit at a later point -- a sweet great-niece (nearly 3 years old), pigs, horses, mother-in-law stories -- it was a great visit!Today we returned to Munich (and only got lost once on the Autobahn), and then got together for "Kaffeetrinken" with a blogging pal of mine, Honeypiehorse of Our Feet are the Same. This is only the 2nd time I've met a blogging acquaintance, and once again, it was really fun!

Honeypiehorse (HPH for short) is a literal translation of "Honigkuchenpferd" -- something that only a German would understand! HPH is American (Californian) and lives in Munich with her German (Bavarian) husband and 2.7 children. I found her blog when I started blogging a few years ago, and it is definitely one of my favorites! She's an amazing woman: I admire anybody who can learn not only our crazy language (which she speaks "ausgezeichnet"), but our culture as well. I'm so glad we met, and that my Tante from Hamburg was willing to venture driving Munich's "Mittlere Ring" during rush hour. DANKESCHÖN.

About the crazy Kraut who writes this blog:

I call Alaska home, but am originally from Germany. I'm incredibly lucky to have a job as a naturalist, teaching and hiking the great outdoors. My family:
The Prof (my husband);
Eldest (flown the coop);
Wolfman (teenage son);
Liesl (youngest pixie).